Maps of Music

Bring Ya to the Brink (2008)

Where the lyrics of Bring Ya to the Brink take you, and where it was really made.

The album came out in Japan 13 days before the rest of the world, and it was the last record Lauper made for Epic Records.

Place unknown

Do you know where this album was recorded, or where its cover was shot? Tell us and we will add it to the map.

Bring Ya to the Brink: tenth studio album by American singer Cyndi Lauper
Released 14 May 2008 in Japan, 13 days later worldwide
Collection of dance-oriented songs
Collaborations with Basement Jaxx, Richard Morel, Max Martin and Kleerup, among others
Lauper's last original-material release to date and last for Epic Records, her label since her 1983 debut solo album She's So Unusual
Dance-pop record with influences from Eurodisco, soul, pop, deep house, electro and nu-disco

Early 2007: Lauper visited England and Sweden to write songs with dance artists such as The Scumfrog, Basement Jaxx, Digital Dog, Dragonette, Kleerup and Axwell
Washington DC DJ Richard Morel co-wrote and produced four of the album's tracks
Lauper said dance music is pop, and that she always had dance songs on her records but went further into the dance community this time
Singles: Set Your Heart (promotional single in Japan, early 2008); Same Ol' Story (first official single, 6 May 2008); Into the Nightlife (second single, 8 August 2008)
Bring Ya to the Brink World Tour outside the United States: Australia in spring 2008, then Japan, Europe and South America in autumn 2008
US dates in summer 2008 on the True Colors 2008 tour

Mastered at Sterling Sound
Mixed by Jeremy Wheatley
Axwell played all instruments and programmed drums, except as listed in the credits
Other credited players include Knox Chandler, Richard Morel, Stephen Gaboury, Dan Kurtz, Roger Fife, William Wittman, Dave Finnell and Craig Considine
Set Your Heart interpolates Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes' Where Are All My Friends

Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper, born June 22, 1953 in Brooklyn, New York, is an American singer, songwriter and actress.
Known for an eccentric image and a four-octave vocal range; dubbed the "Queen of Quirky Pop".
Has sold over 50 million records worldwide.
Debut solo album She's So Unusual (1983) produced four top-five Billboard Hot 100 hits, a first for a female debut artist, and won Best New Artist at the 27th Grammy Awards.
Won the Tony Award for Best Original Score for Kinky Boots (2013), the first woman to win the category solo.
Received two Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy, a Tony, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (2015).
Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in November 2025.
Has been a prominent LGBTQ rights advocate, founding True Colors United in 2008 to address LGBTQ youth homelessness.

AllMusic: three and a half stars out of five; career is hard to define because her style changes constantly
Billboard (Chuck Taylor): favorable review; the lyrics carry a strong message that the public will not always notice
Blender (Barry Walters): three and a half stars out of five; Lauper has never sounded more relevant since her first album She's So Unusual
Entertainment Weekly (Simon Vozick-Levinson): B rating; praised her return to the dance floor
The New York Times: mixed review; described it as a stubbornly fluorescent record, long on thudding downbeats and short on nuance or grace
The Observer (Liz Hoggard): praised it; said this is the album Madonna should have made instead of Hard Candy
Rolling Stone (Caryn Ganz): three stars out of five; never comes close to a full serotonin burst like Madonna's Confessions on a Dance Floor, but credits Lauper with innovating her repertoire again
NOW, Toronto (Evan Davies): three stars out of five; Lauper's personality comes through on most of the record, and it is fun and catchy
Slant Magazine: three and a half stars out of five; not mainstream enough for a triumphant comeback, but a superior alternative to Hard Candy by Madonna

Billboard 200 debut: No. 41 with 12,000 copies sold
Became her first US pop album since Sisters of Avalon (1996)
By 22 August 2008: 33,000 sold in the US (Nielsen SoundScan)
Grammy: nominated for Best Dance/Electronica Album at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards
Attitude Magazine top ten albums of 2008: No. 7
Amazon Best Pop albums of 2008: No. 8
Set Your Heart: peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 Singles
Same Ol' Story: topped the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart and stayed on it for several weeks

Into the Nightlife's music video was partly filmed at Splash Bar in New York City on 20 May 2008, and fans were invited to be extras
Echo was featured in the Gossip Girl episode Bonfire of the Vanity, in which Lauper had a cameo at Blair Waldorf's 18th birthday party celebration
High and Mighty appeared in an episode of Ugly Betty
Lauper performed Into the Nightlife live on The Graham Norton Show, series 4 episode 2, first broadcast on 9 October 2008
Set Your Heart was released as a promo-only single in Japan, where it received considerable airplay